In this episode, Andrew and David discuss one aspect of cultivating intrinsic motivation: the role of support. Cooperation and collaboration don’t just happen, and leaving a group of people – particularly kids – to just do as they please isn’t cultivating motivation. So how do you support intrinsic motivation?

In this second episode of the Motivation series, Andrew and David P. Langford discuss how power dynamics impact motivation and why autonomy is a big factor in motivation.

In this episode, Andrew and David introduce the broad topic of “motivation.” David describes intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation and how motivation practices are usually manipulation tactics that don’t work over the long term. So what do we do instead?

In our latest Deming in Education podcast, Andrew and David talk about a controversial subject: cellphones in classrooms. Should teachers have them? Students? Should they be banned? Or is there another way?

In this episode, Andrew and David talk about chaos, authority, and when calming the chaos can feel like a loss of control. They explore the “psychology” aspect of Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge, and how that applies to classrooms and school systems.

Now that we understand Operational Definitions (see Part 12), it’s time to figure out how to use them to get the improvements and results you want. Andrew and David talk about examples of useful Operational Definitions and how they can impact all aspects of education (and beyond!).

Operational definitions are clearly defined words, phrases, and concepts that everyone working together agrees to use in the same way. Making assumptions about words like “tardy” or “good” is a fast track to confusion and disengagement. In this episode, Andrew and David talk about operational definitions in education – for students, faculty, and administrators.

Dr. Deming listed 7 Deadly Diseases of Management in Out of the Crisis, and one of the more surprising is #3: Evaluation of performance, merit rating, or annual review. In this episode, David and Andrew discuss the harmful practice of awarding “teacher of the year,” “student of the month,” or other traditional recognition practices. David also offers practical suggestions for alternatives.

In this episode, David and Andrew talk about Common Cause Variation vs Special Cause Variation, and the problem of confusing the two. Using the example of transgender students, David describes how a system’s capability should be expanded rather than using that special cause situation as a weapon to destroy the entire system.

What is the Taguchi Loss Function and how does it apply to education? In this episode, Andrew and David talk about statistician Genichi Taguchi’s idea that the further you move from a measurable quality target, the more quality is lost, even if the item still “meets specifications.” David shows how you can apply this to education.